‘Home-bred’ sisters riding home-bred full brothers claim a win and a place

Two “home-bred” sisters competed one after the other in the same event on home-bred full brothers – finishing with a win and a place between them.

Phoebe Towers rode seven-year-old Oblivion to win the BE100 at Breckenbrough Horse Trials on 9 April, and elder sister Hazel rode younger brother Torpex, five, to eighth place at his second ever British Eventing competition.

The riders’ mother Helen Towers told H&H both geldings are out of Phoebe’s mare Sellie, whom she evented to intermediate level, by Opposition Bombshell.

“Phoebe bred Oblivion, and his older sister and a younger brother by different stallions, but she couldn’t afford to breed Torpex so she always says he’s mine,” Helen said.

“I foaled them both and backed Torpex but he was a bit weak and feeble so we turned him away. He did a bit in his four-year-old season but I said ‘There’s no way I want this horse to go to a competition yet as he looks like a waif and stray’!

“So the only thing he did last year was the four-year-olds at Osberton, where he behaved impeccably, and he came out again this year. Hazel doesn’t wear a stopwatch; it’s just about giving them a good run and coming back happy.”

Torpex jumped clear, picking up a few time-penalties across country, and only “didn’t want to stand in the halt in his dressage as he’d seen something in the distance,” Helen said. “Failing that, he might have come a bit closer to his big brother!”

Helen said the brothers are very similar in nature.

“If you can ride one, you can ride the other – or if you can’t ride one, you can’t ride the other!” she said. “They’re very much characters, exactly the same, and like their mother.

“I was very pleased, and with the way they behaved. I don’t go to win, if everyone has a nice time and comes back happy, that’s all it is.

“We don’t rush them, they’re not for sale, they’re my ponies. That’s the way we work.”

You might also be interested in:

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade your subscription to access our online service that brings you breaking news and reports as well as other benefits.